Effect of Nickel Foam Current Collector on the Supercapacitive Properties of Cobalt Oxide Electrode

An electrode for supercapacitor using 3-dimensional porous nickel foam as a current collector and cobalt oxide as an active material was prepared and characterized in terms of morphology observation, crystalline property analysis, and the investigation of electrochemical property. The electrode surface showed that the cobalt oxide was homogeneously coated as the crystalline phase of Co3O4. Cyclic voltammetry for the Co3O4/nickel foam electrode exhibited higher specific capacitance values (445 F/g at 10 mV/s and 350 F/g at 200 mV/s) and excellent capacitance retention ratio (99% after 10(4) cycles). It was proved that the nickel foam substrate played the roles in reducing the interfacial resistance with cobalt oxide and in improving the electrode density by embedding greater amount of cobalt oxide within it.